We want to help authors reach new audiences, sell more books, and build a larger fan base.

A big part of this mission is to help readers explore and discover books outside the top 100 silos that prevent them from finding new authors. We want them to bump into books they have never met (kinda like wandering a bookstore). 

How do we do this right now for authors?

Here is a breakdown of how we get readers to your book recommendation list.

In addition to the book recommendation list, we also have some new formats coming in 2023. They will help authors sell books by: 

• Sharing interesting facts
• Introducing readers to their main character(s)
• One more that will be announced soon... 

From a tactical standpoint, what are we trying to do for authors?

I’ve been talking to many authors and trying to hone how Shepherd can best help them.

Here is what we are currently doing:

1. I want to help authors get the first 50 to 150 book sales that are not family and friends. This is needed to get 15 to 25+ reviews on Amazon and start the organic growth machine. This is the first step for many authors and a difficult barrier for them to overcome. For more established authors, see #2 and further down. 

2. I want to give authors a consistent stream of sales by placing them in front of the most interested readers. The sales won’t be a huge number, but they should be consistent exposure to the readers who are most interested in their book(s). Similar to if your book was in a mystery-only bookstore to help it connect with the right readers. Plus this helps build word of mouth with the people who could be your biggest fans. 

3. And broadly, I want to give authors a place to connect with readers. Goodreads and Amazon put up too many barriers and hide behind ads. I want to create an easy platform where readers and authors can connect through something of shared value (love of books). I don't want to be a social media site and am focused on providing value to both sides. 

Where we are going as we grow bigger?

The step after this is to figure out which books are “clicking” with readers and help those books get to the next level, i.e., thousands of sales, tens of thousands of sales, and beyond. We will be working on that as we get big enough to achieve that type of scale (I'd like to reach 34,000 visitors a day before we start building this step out). 

I will share more as we get closer to this goal later in 2023 and 2024. Feel free to email me at ben@shepherd.com with questions I should add here or add them in the comments below. 

Thanks, Ben

P.S. do you want to help us grow faster?

I launched a membership program for founding members at the urging of authors and readers. 100% of the money goes toward developing new features and my goal of hiring a full-time developer in 2023 (currently, we only have one part-time developer).